Wednesday, January 22, 2003

John Semper, the story editor for the new season of Static Shock, was able to talk to Toon Zone about his role in the upcoming third season and what we can expect from the series.

"Well, naturally, I finished my job on Static months ago, so we have to talk in the past tense," said Semper. "What I intended to accomplish was to keep Alan Burnett and Dennis Cowan's basic vision of the show alive while injecting a few new ideas. I hadn't worked on the show before, so I guess I brought a fresh perspective to it. Since they're into their third season, that can be of some value to a production team. Beyond that, I managed to stay out of the way and let them do their thing, which was great as usual."

Entering the third season, expect the main characters to start showing their age, both in personality and design-wise.

"[Virgil will] grow up a bit and be a bit more serious," said Semper. "He's approaching his high-school years, now, so that's reflected in the show. And of course, I always lean toward the dramatic, so there is at least one story I wrote that digs a bit deeper into Static's relationship with his late mother. But the same old light-hearted Static spirit is still there, too, and at least one episode I co-wrote is pretty funny, so each episode is its own new surprise."

Static will also be making his presence known in the superhero community as well. He will have a guest appearance in Justice League this season, heroes will be appearing in his series as well.

"We did do a lot of crossovers stories," said Semper. "That was great fun. It's always fun to combine casts because, for one, it makes for a great recording session. We did a Justice League two-parter. The first part is more like a Justice League episode with Static in it. The second part is more like a Static episode with the Justice League in it. Beyond that, I am sworn to secrecy!"

"And we did a crossover with Batman, but Static had met Batman before, so we were just continuing the good chemistry that they had with each other," Semper added. " And we did a Superman crossover. That's new, and it should be very exciting."

Crossovers aren't the only surprises fans can expect. This season has a lot in store for the main character. Expect to see a lot of new faces when the season rolls around.

"We had great casts that included Billy Dee Williams, Terrence Stamp, Alfre Woodard, David Arquette, Brock Peters, Bud Cort and many others," said Semper. "It was always a treat to come to recording sessions and be surprised at who was there. Andrea Romano did her usual award-winning job directing the voices. I think that this is going to be one of the best seasons of Static ever. But then, I'm biased."

The new season of Static Shock will premiere this Saturday, January 25, 2003 at 10:30 am ET on Kids' WB. Stay tuned for an interview with Stan Berkowitz on Thursday, and an interview with Dwayne McDuffie on Friday.